The ability to move bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash and litecoin from PayPal’s crypto platform to external wallets is available from Tuesday to select U.S. users
PayPal is finally allowing cryptocurrency holders to transfer their digital assets off its platform to other wallets and exchanges, the feature most often requested since the fintech giant’s crypto buy, sell and hold service went live in October 2020.
The move away from regimented custodial platforms towards more open systems is a trend being followed by other large fintech players to enter crypto, such as popular trading app Robinhood, which is rolling out a new crypto wallet focused on decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
It was back at CoinDesk’s virtual Consensus event in 2021 that Jose Fernandez da Ponte, senior vice president, blockchain, crypto and digital currencies at PayPal, said plans to let users move their coins to third-party wallets were in the works.
We are definitely responding to demand from users, that is one aspect, said da Ponte in an interview this week. We’ve also been very vocal from the beginning that we’re in this because we are a payments and commerce company, and we think that our role in the ecosystem is about increasing access.
The ability to move bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH) and litecoin (LTC) from PayPal’s crypto platform to external wallets is available from Tuesday to select U.S. users (not in Hawaii) and rolling out to all eligible U.S. customers in the coming weeks, according to a blog post.
When PayPal first announced its move into digital assets, it seemed to kick-start a bull run in the crypto markets. By allowing its customers to send and receive crypto, PayPal has become the world’s largest blockchain-enabled consumer digital wallet, according to Walter Hessert, head of strategy at Paxos, an infrastructure provider to PayPal.
In a statement, he said the platform was ‘a monumental step in the mainstream adoption of digital assets and Web3.’
